The development of skiing at Collingwood has been a process that had been continuing since 1934. This was the formative year when the plans were laid for the first active winter of 1934-35.

A number of people were involved but the one who spear-headed the organization of the Blue Mountain Ski Club of Collingwood was John L. Smart.

He was not an active skier, but he was very active in the administrative area. He provided an influence that was needed to stimulate the growth of a sport that was need to stimulate the growth of the sport that was not yet considered to have other potential.

Mr. Smart was involved with the acquisition of land, the cutting and clearing of trails, the contact that was made with the Toronto Ski Club and the subsequent  collaboration, the installation and building of ski tows, and eventually, the placing of club activities on a business basis.

When the late Jozo Weider became involved with the Collingwood Ski area, Mr.  Smart worked closely with him, later serving as an officer of the Blue Mountain Ski Club incorporated.

Through the years, he played an important role in the affairs of the Collingwood Ski Club, giving wise counsel and encouragement when it was required.

John L. Smart was one of the few Collingwood men who had the vision to see the full value of skiing as a sport and as a local industrial enterprise.

Everybody has a secret dream, no matter how small, and everybody lives for the day the dream will come true.

For many people the dream of a lifetime never materialize but there is always that
hope that lies beneath the human breast.

But a lifetime dream did come true for the late Robert “Rose” Bush on June 23rd, 1978, when Bob Bush cut the traditional ceremonial ribbon to officially open the “Old Village Park” in Collingwood’s east end.

They couldn’t have selected a more appropriate citizen to do the honours because AA park for the east enders’ had long been Bob’s Slogan since he was first elected to council years ago.

The “Old Village” takes in that historic territory between Niagara and Raglan Streets and runs north and south from the waterfront to Shannon’s Bridge. Rose was born and raised in that hallowed section and had been regarded as the unofficial Mayor of the Old  Village for most of his adult life.

An outstanding athlete in his younger days, Bob Bush learned to skate on the east mill pond, learned to swim in the old stone quarry (the exact site of the Village Park) played ball in the rock strewn back lots, speared long neglected gravel road that was Raglan Street. When he was fifteen he vowed the east end kids would some day have a park of their own. That park is a reality now and it can stand as a monument to Robert “Rose” Bush.

The Rose took part in about every phase of sport and he kept the sporting fraternity well informed regarding the sporting scene as a columnist with the Enterprise-Bulletin, and in later years, with the Collingwood Times. He played hockey with the Collingwood Juniors after coming up through the town’s minor hockey system, starred on several championships softball teams and was the prime mover in the organization of that fabulous Collingwood Bearded Softball Team during the town’s Centennial year in 1958.

He was a better than average lacrosse player, a hard plunging half-back with the C.C.I. football team and a talented left handed baseball pitcher. In baseball he was a picture but when he switched to softball he became a left hand catcher-and a good one.

He started out with the old Trinity Live Wires around 1938 in the Senior Softball League but he switched to the Legion club after a couple of seasons and moved over to the Pros and helped brother Ed win two league championships.

Rose handled a pretty nifty lacrosse stick when the game made a short lived comeback in Collingwood around 1937.

Rose acted ad bench manager when the Collingwood Greenshirts were winning O.H.A. Junior “C” titles in the early fifties. His brother Ed coached the Greenshirts at that time and this arrangement created repercussion at times. Ed fired Rose about twice a month but blood was thicker than water and the dismissals lasted only from one game to another.

The Rose pulled on punches in his breezy column “Out on the Limb”. His
newspaper career was interrupted for three years during World War 11 when he served with the R.C.A.F. in North Africa, Italy and France. In later years, before suffering a stroke in 1975, he wrote another sports column in the Collingwood Times.

Bob died in 1980. He was fifty-eight.

He was born December 11, 1912 in Grandview  Manitoba and moved to this area
at the age of 6. He married S.E. (Nellie) Brock in 1942 and together they raised four children, 2 son, Allan and Jim and two daughters, Betty and Barb.

For several years he was an avid curler and member of the Collingwood Curling Club.

Wilf was the patriarch of softball in Nottawa both as a player or as a coach or as a
manager. He played softball from early school days as a catcher. Few base
runners could beat his peg from the plate to second base, always hit well over
.300 and gave everything he had in every game, even if the game was exhibition.
This trait continued into his coaching/managing career. He was a member of the
ball team of 1925 and was still with them 50 years later.

He started the first outdoor skating rink in Nottawa. Bob Martin and Wilf drew hot
water from Smart’s Cannery on First   Street in Collingwood to flood the rink. He shared the dream of having a recreational park with ball lights in Nottawa and this
dream came true in 1969. He was a member of the Nottawa Recreation Committee
who without government grants, worked diligently to realize their dreams.

He was coach of the Nottawa Jardine Midget Club who won the Provincial Championship in 1967; they also won the Blue Mountain Softball title 3 years in a row. That same year the Nottawa Brocks Senior Ball Team won the All Ontario. Most of these players had played under the direction of Wilf in previous years. Therefore a village of 400 boasted two Provincial Championships in one year.

Five members of the 1967 Ontario Midget Championships, Don Gallagher (Collingwood Police Department), Bob Gallagher (Collingwood Police Department), Brad Leno, Les Draper and Dennis Rowbotham (Metro Police Department Mounted Division)became police officers. Jim Bell became a Veterinarian. Wilf also helped to
coach school teams under the direction of Joy Burkholder and Wayne Hartle. In
1977 Wilf coached the Nottawa Daals to the sixth championship in a row.

Wilf started his hockey career in 1960/61 as a manager. He managed teams coached by Dennis Robinson, Harvey Pearen, Cliff Rimmington and Bill Gurney. In 1967 he
managed the Legion Vets, who went on to become All Ontario Finalists, losing to
Leamington in a best of three series. He managed teams on which Paul Shakes and Randy Osburn played, both of whom went on to become NHL players.

Many of the boys managed by Wilf still play hockey today as well as on of his
coaches, Harvey Pearen, who plays on the Beaver Lumber Oldtimers over 45’s.

Wilf’s home was always open to the “young people” and many hours were spent
replaying the “games” until Wilf’s death on April 28, 1984.

Skiing in the Collingwood area has come a long way since 1935 when a group of public
spirited citizen had the foresight to see that this winter pastime would some
day put the town and the whole Blue Mountain District on the map.

The whole country was in the depths of the Great Depression when a hundred dollars
looked like a small fortune.

One of the men who realized that there was “Gold in them there, Blue Mountains” was the late Norman Broadway.

He came to Collingwood in 1918 after his discharge from the Royal Canadian Navy,
still recuperating from injuries suffered in the Halifax explosion.

The late John Smart and Norman were driving up from Toronto one Sunday night watching the avalanche of cars speeding back in Toronto from the ski resorts in Huntsville. Norman remarked. “We have bigger and better hills in Collingwood. Why can’t we get in on the action.”

It may have been an “off-the-cuff” remark but it triggered a dream that eventually came true a few years later.

Mr. Smart, who was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame, in 1978, and cut the Mr.
Boadway, lost no time in exploring the ways and means of getting the ball rolling.

They induced Fritz Loosli, a Swiss pro, to come to Collingwood and cut the first
trails after they negotiated a rental deal for the old Doherty property. An old log cabin was turned into a club house and the Collingwood Ski Club was eventually in business.

Now for a ski tow. The answer came when John David Eaton donated the motor from his wrecked Chrysler. The motor powered a wooden sleigh tow and the sleighs ere
built by the late Robert Morrill. The seats were built in Boadway’s cellar.  During the first winter, Norman operated the motor and John sold tow tickets. The tickets sold for ten cents each.

Through his connections as manager of the Collingwood Terminals Ltd. elevator, Norman got Senator Peter Campbell and Gordon Leitch, a pair of big time financers, interested in the development. The rest is history. The development of the ski trails was not the only cause pioneered by Norman Boadway.

He was the driving force behind the birth of the Blue Mountain Crippled Children’s
Camp and the first Collingwood Yacht Club and the founding of the H.M.S. “Hood” through the Collingwood Branch of the Navy League. He helped organize the Collingwood Horticultural Society and served for many years on the General and Marine Hospital Board.

His interest in curling included the donation of the Collingwood Terminals Cup in
the late thirties. Norman Boadway died in October, 1965, in his 67th year.